CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Addressing new data showing that more Americans are collecting food stamp benefits than at any time in history, Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis told The Daily Caller that America would be “much better off” if Republicans would “cooperate” with President Obama and let him “succeed.”

TheDC asked Lewis if the record 46.7 million food stamp recipients is a “reflection” of President Obama’s leadership on the economy.

“No, I don’t think so. This president inherited an unbelievable mess. The mess did not occur overnight and it will not be solved overnight. It will not be solved in two or three years. We’ve got to come together and look out for the common good,” Lewis, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee told TheDC at the Democratic National Convention.

“We should not put all of the blame or the burden on the president of the United States. If the members of the majority in the House had cooperated and worked with him we would be much better off. They made a decision on the night that he was inaugurated – the evening of the day that he was inaugurated that they will not cooperate. They would not let him succeed so there’s enough blame to go around and it’s not just this president.”

“This president has been treated – I remember every president since John F. Kennedy…this president has been treated like everything, with a great deal of disrespect and non-cooperation,” said Lewis, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“The other night at the Republican convention to have Clint Eastwood doing what he did. It was an insult and an affront – not just to the President but to the office of the president – to the presidency really.”